1. Field of the Invention
Present invention relates to an ink ribbon used in a print device for printing characters and other images on a printing medium using a thermal head and based on inputted print information.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, there has been known a device for preparing tape-shaped labels for attaching to the spine of files and the like. For example, Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. HEI-5-84994 describes a tape-shaped label producing device for printing characters and marks, inputted using a keyboard, for example, onto a tape-shaped printing medium using an ink ribbon and a thermal head. This type of label producing device includes a keyboard, a display, and a thermal printing type printing mechanism. By using this label producing device, characters and marks can be printed on printing tapes, which serve as a printing media, in a variety of character sizes and fonts. Examples of print tapes include tapes with widths of 6, 9, 12, 18, or 24 mm.
The tape-shaped labels produced by printing characters and texts in the above described manner need not to be used as labels for the spines of files. The tape-shaped labels are also appropriate for attaching to cassette tapes, video tapes, or to their cases. Because these tape-shaped labels have a variety of applications, there has been a demand for producing colorful labels, wherein a portion of the characters or text character trains are printed in colors changed according to genre or recorded content of the file or tape to which the label is attached.